Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Gatumba, four years on: Empty words from the international community?

The following quotes give something of an overview of the international outrage generated by the Gatumba massacre in the days and weeks that followed:

The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the attack that took place on Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi on August 13, 2004. Armed elements, including the National Liberation Front of the Party for the Liberation of the Hutu People, participated in this vicious attack on an already vulnerable population of refugees, many of them women and children. We extend our condolences to the families of the victims and to the Congolese government and people.

The United States strongly supports the initiative of the UN Security Council to quickly investigate the massacre. We call on the authorities of Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo to cooperate in identifying the perpetrators and in bringing them to justice.- US State Department, August 16 2004

It is with horror and great indignation that the European Union has learned of the attack perpetrated in the evening of Friday 13 August on a refugee camp in Burundi... In line with the measures already announced by Burundian President Ndayizeye, the Presidency of the European Union expects that every effort will be made to establish the identity of the perpetrators of this cowardly and despicable attack, to arrest them and bring them to trial.Presidency of the European Union, August 15 2004

The Security Council calls upon the authorities of Burundi and of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to cooperate actively so that the perpetrators and those responsible for these crimes be brought to justice without delay.- United Nations Security Council, August 15 2004

France condemns with the utmost firmness the terrible massacre of Congolese refugees that occurred in Gatumba, on Burundi’s territory.

It is currently in close contact with its Security Council partners. The facts must be established without delay so that these crimes do not go unpunished.- French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, August 16 2004

Foreign Office Minister, Dr Denis MacShane, today condemned the killing of 130 people during a raid on the Gatumba camp in Burundi, which is sheltering refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo.-United Kingdom Foreign and Commonwealth Office, August 14 2004

The people who committed this terrible crime must be out of their heads. They are really terrorists... I condemn very strongly what they did. They should be arrested as soon as possible, they should be brought to court.- Agnes van Ardenne, Netherlands Minister For Development Co-operation, August 22 2004

Protecting refugees and displaced persons is a fundamental principle - and no cause or ideology can justify attacking such vulnerable, weakened groups. Consequently it is vital that every attempt be made to shed light on who was responsible for this act so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice.- Karel de Gucht, Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, August 15 2004

The only fault of the dead was that they were Banyamulenge. A mindless and criminal hatred drove the killers to carry out an unpardonable crime against humanity. What they hated was the fact that the Banyamulenge were Banyamulenge. The murderers viewed the mere fact that the Banyamulenge exist as human beings as unacceptable.

They therefore took it upon themselves to commit cold-blooded murder, to ensure that the Banyamulenge cease to exist. Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazis had taken the same decision with regard to the Jewish people, and systematically embarked on the Holocaust intended to annihilate an entire people.

Half-a-century later, other criminals, this time on our continent, carried out a genocide that claimed the lives of a million Rwandans in a mere 100 days. Hitler's African successors argued that the Tutsis of Rwanda, ethnically related to the Banyamulenge of the DRC, were "cockroaches" that did not deserve to live and therefore had to be exterminated. - Thabo Mbeki, South African President, August 20 2004

It is not only terrorism within one state which has to be the concern of the international community as a whole, but other conflicts too. The situation in Darfur, in the Sudan, from where I returned last week, demands action both because it is a human tragedy, and because it affects the whole region through the spread of instability and the movement of refugees. And in Gatumba, in Burundi, the horrific massacre a few weeks ago underlines the continuing potential of that conflict to destabilise the Great Lakes, and the challenges which the UN force there has to face.- Jack Straw, United Kingdom Foreign Secretary, September 3 2004

It is essential that the killings of more than 150 Congolese refugees in Burundi are the subject of an independent impartial investigation, the findings of which should be made public and acted upon so that the perpetrators can be brought to justice...

The international community should do its utmost to ensure that past and present human rights abuses are investigated and that the perpetrators, whoever they are, are brought to justice. Sacrificing justice for short term political expediency will only prolong the region’s terrible human rights crisis and plays into the hands of the many protagonists who have no wish to see the truth, and justice, emerge.- Amnesty International, August 17 2004

Dakar, Senegal (PANA) - The African Human Rights Rally (RADDHO) has qualified as "crime against humanity" the massacre of Congolese refugees last Friday in Gatumba, Burundi.According to the Dakar-based NGO, the killing of some 170 people in a transit camp hosting Congolese refugees and claimed by the National Liberation Front (FNL) represents "a crime against humanity jeopardising the peace processes in Burundi and DR Congo."- Panafrican News Agency, August 17 2004

The Gatumba massacre was a direct attack on civilians in violation of international humanitarian law (the laws of war) for which all those responsible must be fully prosecuted. The Burundian government has issued arrest warrants for two leaders of the FNL, a promising first step that must be followed by the actual arrest and prosecution of the perpetrators.- Human Rights Watch, September 2004

...our position on the FNL remains unchanged. FNL leaders responsible for crimes against humanity and human rights violations must be brought to justice. We will continue to resist any moves to grant Rwasa or other FNL leaders immunity. We have made our position on this clear to EU partners and participants in the Regional Peace Initiative (group of African states including South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania) on many occasions. We are clear that breaking the culture of impunity in the region is key to peace in the Great Lakes. The FNL and other groups must be sent a signal that they cannot negotiate immunity.

If and when Rwasa and other FNL leaders return to Burundi we will push strongly for the Burundian authorities to try them as soon as possible for the crimes of which they have been accused or admitted responsibility for (such as the massacre in Gatumba in August 2004).- British Foreign Office official, 6 May 2005Take action - Fax your MP!Take action - sign the Gatumba petition

Gatumba - support the survivor's call for justice!

I'm still reeling from last weekend's meeting to commemorate the 4th anniversary of the Gatumba massacre. It was more brutal and harrowing than I think any of us expected. The organisers showed video footage taken from the scene just a few hours after the attack, and it was by a long stretch the most shocking piece of film I'd ever seen.

More or less unedited, and mercilessly graphic, the film is largely silent except for the sobbing of the dazed survivors, which can be heard constantly in the background. The smoke still rises from the charred bodies and burned-out tents as the cameraman makes his way around the remains of the refugee camp, meticulously documenting the scene. As the film goes on, we see various Burundian dignitaries arriving, trying to look as if they have some kind of control over the situation, while soldiers and UN peacekeepers wander aimlessly around the remains of the camp. But the look on everyone's faces is one of dazed, incredulous horror.

The extremist group Palipehutu-FNL, which claimed responsibility for the attack, continues to assert, in the face of all the evidence, that Gatumba was not in fact a UNHCR refugee camp, but a military base. I think there is something almost Orwellian in the psychology of that claim.

This film - which I didn't even know existed until the moment it was shown to me – answers it more eloquently and comprehensively than words ever could.

Watching the film with us was Janvier Mudagiri, one of the survivors of the Gatumba attack. The Foreign Office had, at the last minute, denied him a visa to travel to the UK from the Netherlands, where he now has permanent residency. I, along with several of the organisers, had spent much of last Thursday trying to persuade them to change their minds - never expecting that they would – before the decision was unexpectedly reversed. Another small testament to the power of campaigning, I suppose, but it seemed like an unnecessary piece of bureaucratic cruelty. We were less lucky with Janvier's fellow survivor, Dorkasi Nankumi, who is now based in Finland, and whose visa refusal we were unable to overturn.

Coming after the film, Janvier's account was almost too much. In chilling detail, he recounted how the attack had unfolded, and reminded us that five of the Gatumba survivors had subsequently died from their injuries in hospital, bringing the final death toll to 165, while many others continued to live with crippling physical injuries.

The circumstances of Saturday's event were made all the more cruel by the fact that the Palipehutu-FNL had, just the day before, renewed their demand for immunity from prosecution and significant political power (without, naturally, the formality of having to be elected) as the price for ending their campaign of war crimes, and crimes against humanity. On Friday, Agence France Presse reported that the group was demanding "one of the two vice-presidencies and 13 out of the government's 26 ministries, including the interior, foreign affairs, defence, finance, planning, justice, agriculture, education, health, trade, labour and energy portfolios".

It's hard to see how acceding to such demands would help to advance peace, democracy or human rights in Burundi. Those who have lost loved ones at the hands of Palipehutu-FNL are particularly hurt that some elements of the international community now appear to be pressurising Burundi's elected (and Hutu-led) government to make just such a concession. It's difficult to think of a clearer illustration of the cycle of impunity in the Great Lakes region of Central Africa – and the extent to which the international community is all too often directly complicit.

Speaking at Saturday's event, Janvier Mudagiri called on the international community to ensure that those who carried out the Gatumba attack are brought to book for what they have done, and that justice is done for the victims of Gatumba.

Presumably we can now expect another African Union press release, lobbying for an elected government to accede, in the name of 'peace', to the demands of Burundi's answer to the Khmer Rouge. Great job, South Africa!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Breaking the international silence over the Gatumba massacre

Four years ago this week – on Friday 13th, as it happens – more than 150 people, half of them children, were shot, hacked, and burned to death at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi. The victims, supposedly under UNHCR protection, were almost all Banyamulenge Congolese Tutsis, singled out by their attackers, who left non-Tutsi refugees in the camp unharmed. Here is Thabo Mbeki's account of what happened:

The killers came in the dark of night. They attacked a Burundi army camp located nearby, charged with the responsibility to protect the refugees. This was to stop these soldiers intervening as the murderers did their dirty work of murdering in cold blood well over 150 children, women and men as they slept.

The killers came in the night and hacked to death perfectly innocent people who were already suffering because violent conflict in their country had turned them into refugees. They poured petrol on the shacks in which the people lived and set them alight. Many of the bodies were burnt beyond recognition. Those who tried to run away were shot down in cold blood.

With cold and deliberate intent, they did not touch even one of the other refugees who stayed in other shacks a mere few metres away, but belonged to other Congolese ethnic groups.

The only fault of the dead was that they were Banyamulenge. A mindless and criminal hatred drove the killers to carry out an unpardonable crime against humanity. What they hated was the fact that the Banyamulenge were Banyamulenge. The murderers viewed the mere fact that the Banyamulenge exist as human beings as unacceptable.

They therefore took it upon themselves to commit cold-blooded murder, to ensure that the Banyamulenge cease to exist…

Mbeki goes on to talk about the group that claimed responsibility for the attack:

There is an armed group in Burundi called the Palipehutu-FNL. This group, whose leader passionately presents himself as a born-again Christian, has refused to lay down arms and join the Burundi peace process. As the Barundi have courageously engaged the process to bring peace to their country, preparing for democratic elections, Palipehutu-FNL has taken the conscious decision that it will not join the peace process.

In action, it has made the unequivocal statement that it is determined to continue killing other Barundi, utterly contemptuous of the people's heartfelt desire for peace, and unmoved by the fact that 300,000 people have died in a decade-long conflict. Active in the vicinity of the capital city, in Bujumbura Rural, Palipehutu-FNL has unashamedly carried out operations that make the statement that this organisation, wrongly described as a Front for National Liberation, has nothing to do with the national liberation of the Barundi, and everything to do with the commission of violent crimes against the people of Burundi.

Perhaps it should have not come as a surprise that, by its own admission, Palipehutu-FNL was involved in the Gatumba massacre of Friday, August 13. This armed group has become so accustomed to the shedding of innocent blood that it made bold to make the statement that it was responsible for the Gatumba massacre. It went further to say that it had no fear of retribution for its crimes, because it was certain that it had become untouchable.

Pasteur Habimana, spokesman for the movement, was the first to make such a statement. Early on the morning of the attack he called several Burundian journalists to castigate them for having broadcast reports that the perpetrators of the massacre had come from the Congo and were mostly Rwandan rebels and Mai Mai.

Even after it became increasingly clear that accepting responsibility for the attack might be seriously damaging to his group, Habimana as well as the national secretariat made no retraction. They did elaborate on several reasons why the FNL had made the attack. They referred to the many killings of civilians that had gone unpunished in the years of conflict in Burundi, seeming to suggest that attacking the Banyamulenge was a justifiable response to these previous killings. Habimana also claimed that the FNL force had attacked the military and police camps and had pursued soldiers and police who fled from their camps to the refugee camp. There, said Habimana, Banyamulenge had brought out arms that had been hidden and fired on the FNL. As the days passed, he elaborated this explanation to the point of calling the refugee camp the Banyamulenge general staff headquarters. No evidence supports these claims.

The Gatumba attack was also roundly condemned by the European Union, Britain, the United States, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and many other countries around the world, all of whom urged that the perpetrators be prosecuted. The African Union and the UN Security Council both issued statements urging that those responsible be brought to justice "without delay". In December 2004, UN resolution 1577 reiterated the need for justice, and an end to Burundi's culture of impunity. Under heavy international pressure, the Burundian government issued arrest warrants for the Palipehutu-FNL leadership.

Despite the calls for justice to be done "without delay", the victims of Gatumba are still waiting, four years on. Calls for the attack to be referred to the International Criminal Court came to nothing. A UN investigation into the massacre petered out within a year. When, in April 2005, the Palipehutu-FNL leader Agathon Rwasa called a press conference in the Tanzanian capital Dar Es Salaam and appeared in public for the first time, no attempt was made to arrest him.

When I queried this with the UK Foreign Office at the time, they told me that:

The Government of Tanzania is trying to persuade the FNL to end its armed struggle so that peace and security can be brought to the whole of Burundi and that elections can be held in safety. We support these efforts to bring an end to Burundi's civil war. The Government of Burundi has agreed to meet the FNL in Tanzania to discuss ending the fighting.

But our position on the FNL remains unchanged. FNL leaders responsible for crimes against humanity and human rights violations must be brought to justice. We will continue to resist any moves to grant Rwasa or other FNL leaders immunity… We are clear that breaking the culture of impunity in the region is key to peace in the Great Lakes. The FNL and other groups must be sent a signal that they cannot negotiate immunity.

If and when Rwasa and other FNL leaders return to Burundi we will push strongly for the Burundian authorities to try them as soon as possible for the crimes of which they have been accused or admitted responsibility for (such as the massacre in Gatumba in August 2004).

Despite these hopes, Palipehutu-FNL carried on killing people. Elections were held, and judged free and fair, despite the FNL's continued violence. But at the international level there was no more talk of bringing them to justice over Gatumba. Simply by popping up in Tanzania and saying that they were ready for peace, the FNL had effectively unravelled all the commitments that had been made to the victims of the atrocities they had committed.

One Burundian friend of mine often talks of the uncanny ability of regional politicians to 'launder' themselves of the crimes they have committed, and the extent to which the international community is willing to play along. Compare and contrast the above quote from Thabo Mbeki with another one – this time from a speech he made in June 2008:

Let me first acknowledge the delegation from the Republic of Burundi both from Government and Palipehutu-FNL, led respectively by the Minister in the Burundi Presidency, General Evariste Ndayishimiye and the Palipehutu-FNL and its President, Agathon Rwasa. I am very pleased to extend a warm welcome to our dear friends from Burundi.

This year, the FNL declared an end to their campaign of violence – again – and are now angling for government posts and a blanket amnesty as their price for disarming and demobilising. Amid reports that the group was continuing to recruit child soldiers, the FNL leader returned from Tanzania to the Burundian capital Bujumbura on May 30th. It remains to be seen whether the UK government – or any of the others who spoke out against the Gatumba massacre four years ago – will keep the promises that they have made.

At 1.30pm this Saturday, two survivors of the Gatumba massacre will be giving their own account of the events of that day, at a public commemoration being organised by the Ubuntu peacebuilding organisation, and held at Amnesty UK's Human Rights Action Centre in London.

Similar events will be held around the world, as the massacre survivors – and those who lost loved ones in the attack – seek to challenge the international community's selective amnesia over what happened in Burundi on the night of August 13th 2004.